BACKGROUND Anthocyanins have been shown to improve endothelial function in animal models. However, whether these compounds have similar beneficial effects in humans is largely unknown. METHODS In a short-term crossover study, 12 hypercholesterolemic individuals were given oral anthocyanins (320 mg) isolated from berries or placebo. Brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) was assessed before and after the intervention. In a long-term intervention trial (12 weeks), 150 hypercholesterolemic individuals were given anthocyanins (320 mg/day, n = 75) or placebo (n = 75), after which we measured FMD, plasma cGMP, and other serum biomarkers. Another short-term intervention was conducted in the presence of NO-cGMP inhibitors in 6 people and in a rat aortic ring model (n = 8). RESULTS Significant increases of FMD from 8.3% (0.6%) at baseline to 11.0% (0.8%) at 1 h and 10.1% (0.9%) at 2 h were observed after short-term anthocyanin consumption, concomitantly with increases of plasma anthocyanin concentrations (P < 0.05). In the study participants who received long-term anthocyanin intervention, compared with the control group, we observed significant increases in the FMD (28.4% vs 2.2%), cGMP (12.6% vs −1.2%), and HDL-cholesterol concentrations, but decreases in the serum soluble vascular adhesion molecule-1 and LDL cholesterol concentrations (P < 0.05). The changes in the cGMP and HDL cholesterol concentrations positively correlated with FMD in the anthocyanin group (P < 0.05). In the presence of NO-cGMP inhibitors, the effects of anthocyanin on endothelial function were abolished in human participants and in a rat aortic ring model. CONCLUSIONS Anthocyanin supplementation improves endothelium-dependent vasodilation in hypercholesterolemic individuals. This effect involves activation of the NO-cGMP signaling pathway, improvements in the serum lipid profile, and decreased inflammation.

MicroRNAs (miRNA) precursor (pre-miRNA) molecules can be processed to release a miRNA/miRNA* duplex. In the canonical model of miRNA biogenesis, one strand of the duplex is thought to be the biologically active miRNA, whereas the other strand is thought to be inactive and degraded as a carrier or passenger strand called miRNA* (miRNA star). However, recent studies have revealed that miRNA* strands frequently play roles in the regulatory networks of miRNA target molecules. Our recent study indicated that miR-17 transgenic mice could abundantly express both the mature miR-17-5p and the passenger strand miR-17-3p. Here, we showed that miR-17 enhanced prostate tumor growth and invasion by increasing tumor cell proliferation, colony formation, cell survival and invasion. miRNA target analysis showed that both miR-17-5p and miR-17-3p repressed TIMP metallopeptidase inhibitor 3 (TIMP3) expression. Silencing with small interfering RNA against TIMP3 promoted cell survival and invasion. Ectopic expression of TIMP3 decreased cell invasion and cell survival. Our results demonstrated that mature miRNA can function coordinately with its passenger strand, enhancing the repressive ability of a miRNA by binding the same target. Within an intricate regulatory network, this may be among the mechanisms by which miRNA can augment their regulatory capacity.

Background: To evaluate and compare the prognostic performance of four nutritional indicators body mass index (BMI), serum albumin (ALB), prognostic nutritional index (PNI) and nutritional risk index (NRI) in oral cancer patients, and to predict the response to chemotherapy in patients with different nutritional status. Methods: This prospective study which involved 1395 oral cancer patients was conducted in Fujian, China from September 2007 to November 2018. The BMI, PNI and NRI were calculated according to the following formulas: BMI = weight / height 2 (kg/m 2), PNI = albumin (g/l) + 0.005 × lymphocyte (count/μl) and NRI = (1.519 × albumin, g/ l) + (41.7× present/ideal body weight), respectively. The univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were used to compare the prognostic value of BMI, ALB, PNI and NRI in overall survival (OS) in oral cancer. Results: Patients with BMI < 18.5 kg/m 2 (VS 18.5 kg/m 2 ≤ BMI < 24 kg/m 2) had a poor survival outcome (HR = 1.585; 95% CI: 1.207-2.082). ALB, PNI, NRI were inversely correlated with OS of oral cancer (HR = 0.716; 95% CI: 0.575-0.891; HR = 0.793; 95% CI: 0.633-0.992; HR = 0.588; 95% CI: 0.469-0.738, respectively). In addition, the prognostic predictive performance of NRI was superior to BMI or ALB or PNI. Interestingly, compared with patients with better nutritional status, chemotherapy was significantly associated with poorer OS in malnourished oral cancer patients. Conclusions: BMI, ALB, PNI and NRI are of prognostic value in patients with oral cancer and the prognostic performance of NRI was superior to BMI or ALB or PNI. Malnutrition (BMI < 18.5 kg/m 2 or ALB< 40 g/l or PNI < 49.3 or NRI < 97.5) could predict an unfavorable response to chemotherapy in oral cancer patients.

Background To investigate the potential beneficial effect of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) on gastrointestinal symptoms, gut dysbiosis and immune status in discharged COVID-19 patients. Case presentation A total of 11 COVID-19 patients were recruited in April, 2020, about one month on average after they were discharged from the hospital. All subjects received FMT for 4 consecutive days by oral capsule administrations with 10 capsules for each day. In total, 5 out of 11 patients reported to be suffered from gastrointestinal symptoms, which were improved after FMT. After FMT, alterations of B cells were observed, which was characterized as decreased naive B cell (P = 0.012) and increased memory B cells (P = 0.001) and non-switched B cells (P = 0.012).The microbial community richness indicated by operational taxonomic units number, observed species and Chao1 estimator was marginally increased after FMT. Gut microbiome composition of discharged COVID-19 patients differed from that of the general population at both phylum and genera level, which was characterized with a lower proportion of Firmicutes (41.0%) and Actinobacteria (4.0%), higher proportion of Bacteroidetes (42.9%) and Proteobacteria (9.2%). FMT can partially restore the gut dysbiosis by increasing the relative abundance of Actinobacteria (15.0%) and reducing Proteobacteria (2.8%) at the phylum level. At the genera level, Bifidobacterium and Faecalibacterium had significantly increased after FMT. Conclusions After FMT, altered peripheral lymphocyte subset, restored gut microbiota and alleviated gastrointestinal disorders were observe, suggesting that FMT may serve as a potential therapeutic and rehabilitative intervention for the COVID-19.

This preliminary study suggests that both serum excess and deficient levels of Cu or Zn were significant correlation with oral cancer risk, which may provide a new insight on the roles of serum Cu and Zn in oral cancer.

Anthocyanins are naturally occurring compounds that impart color to fruits, vegetables, and plants. This study aims to optimize the microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) conditions of anthocyanins from mulberry (M. atropurpurea Roxb.) using response surface methodology (RSM). A Box-Behnken experiment was employed in this regard. Methanol concentration, microwave power, and extraction time were chosen as independent variables. The optimized conditions of MAE were as follows: 59.6% acidified methanol, 425 W power, 25 (v/w) liquid-to-solid ratio, and 132 s time. Under these conditions, 54.72 mg anthocyanins were obtained from 1.0 g mulberry powder. Furthermore, 8 anthocyanins were identified by high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS) in mulberry extract. The results showed that cyanidin-3-glucoside and cyanidin-3-rutinoside are the major anthocyanins in mulberry. In addition, in comparison with conventional extraction, MAE is more rapid and efficient for extracting anthocyanins from mulberry.

Background To develop and validate practical prognostic indexes (PIs) for predicting the prognosis and response to postoperative adjuvant therapy in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Methods A large cohort of 1071 OSCC patients were randomized to either training set (N = 708) or validation set (N = 363). Three types of PIs were developed according to the nomogram scores, β coefficients and excess hazard ratios, respectively. Restricted cubic spline was used to demonstrate the relationship between PIs and the risks of death. Results First, a nomogram was developed incorporating age at diagnosis, smoking status, clinical stage, tumor differentiation, lymph node status, comorbidity, and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio levels. Then, three PIs were established with high survival predictive ability, and were superior to AJCC staging system (all P < .05). The risks of death were escalated continuously with the increasing number of PIs. Interestingly, adjuvant chemoradiotherapy was positively associated with poor overall survival in patients with low PIs, but exerted a beneficial effect on patients with high PIs. Conclusion Combined nomogram with further established PIs not only predicts the survival probability of OSCC patients, but also continuously quantifies the risk of death. High PIs could predict a beneficial response to adjuvant chemoradiotherapy, whereas low PIs indicate an unfavorable response.

BackgroundTo explore the effect of smoking and drinking on survival of patients with oral cancer by comparing the characteristics and survival of nonsmoking and nondrinking (NSND) patients in contrast to smoking and/or drinking (SD) patients.MethodsThis prospective study including 1165 patients with oral cancer was conducted in Fujian, China from January 2005 to January 2019. The patients were categorized to two groups, the NSND group and SD group. We compared overall survival and disease‐specific survival between the two groups using the Kaplan‐Meier method and Cox proportional hazards regression before and after propensity score matching (PSM) to explore the effect of smoking and drinking on the prognosis of patients with oral cancer.ResultsNSND patients accounted for 55.45% (646 patients) of all the patients with oral cancer. SD patients with oral cancer tended to be older and mainly are male (98.46%) and with more advanced disease status. There are trends toward both higher risk of all‐cause death (HR = 1.678; 95% CI: 1.086‐2.594) and oral cancer specific death (HR = 1.632; 95% CI: 1.044‐2.552) in SD patients with oral cancer before PSM. After PSM, the association is still significant, with adjusted HR of 1.897 (95% CI: 1.138‐3.165) for all‐cause death and adjusted HR of 1.764 (95% CI: 1.043‐2.983) for oral cancer‐specific death. Additionally, PSM can improve the HR value and result in a stronger association.ConclusionsSocial and clinical characteristics of NSND patients differed from SD patients with oral cancer. SD patients with oral cancer have higher all‐cause mortality and oral cancer‐specific mortality than NSND patients.